Long Weekend and Today's Chest Workout

What a busy long weekend with no time to blog.

Saturday, I got to go bodyboarding with my brother-in-law in the morning for a couple hours.  The waves were pretty big that day, so the paddle out was a pretty good workout in itself.  The waves were pretty sloppy, so I was very selective and only ended up catching 3.  The current was really strong, so I spent a lot of time paddling north and trying to get in a good position.  I was worked by the end of that day.

On Sunday, I did the Como street ride with the guys, which is always one that turns me inside out.  I was a little worried about the effects of the bodyboarding, but in the end, I think my right shoe got the best of me instead.  When I rode yesterday, I remembered to check my cleat, and all 4 of the screws were backing out. 

Since I participated in some pizza/beer, I also decided to hit the trainer when I got home.  I did that for an hour and left a pretty good size puddle in my garage.  The trainer is actually a different animal where you can't use your whole body, so my legs were pretty worked after.

Yesterday, I skipped the weights and opted for a hill trainer with Eddie and Gary.   Climbing all those hills in that short duration of miles was pretty intense.  I felt like crying "Mama" going up Nyes.  At the end of the ride, my legs were absolute toast.  I still went to lunch and a movie with the kids, but man were they in pain. 

Today, I decided to skip morning workout due to all the activities in the last few days.  I didn't get a lot of sleep either, so the extra hour plus helped.  Since my groin and my legs feel a little strained, I was thinking to back off and hit it hard for the Thursday night crit, but that didn't workout due to scheduling problems.  I'll just do a chest workout today as my only one and try to resume a normal schedule tomorrow.

Rest Day, Supplements, and Cardiologist Visit

After (actually during) yesterday's ride, my legs felt pretty drained but I pushed as hard as I could nonetheless.   I felt like spinning more than anything else, and even that was a challenge.  I did save some for the Jamboree climb, but afterwards, I was just done.  As a result, I was going to rest all of today to recover (hopefully) for any rides going on this weekend.

I did want to bring up my supplements in that I have been doing the new creatine that Shannon told me about for some time.  Although I haven't been able to see how it's affected my strength from a max perspective, it does seem to be working given that I seemed to have gained some strength from a high rep perspective.  I'll stick with it.

I saw my cardiologist yesterday, and he noticed my weight loss.  One of the things about it was he indicated that he actually should reduce my blood pressure meds because I've been getting dizzy a lot after standing, and it seems related to how LOW my blood pressure is (it was 105/60 yesterday).   I get to cut it in half now, so we'll see how that affects me cycling-wise. 

Yesterday's Ride, Plateaus, Shoulders, and Cycling

In yesterday's ride, I was hoping it would be tame enough where I could do some off the seat and seated training.  I did manage to do off the seat training up NPC, and seated training up Ridge Park, but the rest of the ride was just chaos.  I didn't expect to push as hard, but that's how it goes.  Left calf was hinting at cramping at a couple points during the ride, but it never did.  I'm glad quads held up as well, but they did feel heavy during the ride.

I weighed myself after yesterday's ride, and I seem to be hovering at 153.  I am still eating clean with only fibrous vegetables at night, but I guess I just hit a plateau.  I think I can reduce more fat, so I'll keep going and hopefully be able to break through in the next month.

I got my shoulder workout this morning with 4 exercises:  side dumbbell raises, front dumbbell raises, rear delt machine, and bilateral machine shoulder press.  I'm still skipping a 2nd pressing movement that I used to do to avoid size.  I also got my core workout in.

Today, I'm getting on the bike again.   Legs seem to be recovering faster again and not complaining as they did last week after not riding for 3 days in a row.   We'll see just how recovered they are at lunch time.

Leg day, Resisting the Urge, and Cycling

Killed it in the gym this morning working my calves, glutes, hamstrings and quads.  Calves were totally done after 8 sets.  I also hit a glute isolator machine, which is a funny name considering that it also works the hamstrings, and did 4 sets of 40-50 reps.  For my quads, I hit the leg extensions (bilateral this time vs. alternating) and then the leg press to top off.

When performing the above exercise, I always feel like I want to do more weight.   Progress resistance training has been my mode for so long, that it seems engrained in me.  However, despite the urge to do so, I always manage to talk myself out of it since it's not inline with my cycling focus.  I know strength wise, it'll help but I don't want the size that may come with it.   Strange but true.

Today, I plan on getting out on the bike and I just read how Gary wants to do repeats on NPC.  I guess I'll join him and see what that's about.  Let's hope my calves and quads don't blow up too badly.

Back and Lunch Ride

Face is still swollen this morning, and to boot, now it's itchy.  Damn that bee (or wasp)!  I didn't let that stop me from getting in the gym this morning.  I also couldn't find my iPod but my BB with Pandora came through.

I got my back workout in and got 4 exercises + some core training in.  I was mixing some alternating and bilateral reps to change things up on some sets.  I did cable pull downs, high angle rows, seated rows, and cable pullovers.  At one point, a guy came up to me and asked if I do 50 reps regularly.  I let him know just this year to improve conditioning, but my heart belongs to the low rep/high intensity. 


I'm hoping for a good turnout at lunch today.  3 more weeks until the Bear ride and no time to take it easy.  My legs feel good, so I'm looking forward to it.

Swollen Face, Chest day and Cardio

After yesterday's ride and the massive bee venom absorption, I woke up with a mad fat lip, my gums hurting on the right side of my mouth, and a swollen cheek/jaw.  Lovely.  It still feels like I got socked pretty hard, so what a great way to start the week.

I managed to get in the gym this morning nonetheless, and the only real effect from yesterday's ride was the bee sting.  My legs felt good, although I did contemplate skipping just because of the mileage/hours I put in yesterday.  Ultimately, I concluded that progress waits for no one.

I got a chest workout in today where I changed up the order of some of my exercises just to increase stimulation.  I wanted to do some flies and some dumbbell presses, but as I was having to deal with the discomfort of my face, I stuck to machines and cables mostly except for the bench.  What was funny is that when I would push the intensity, my face would hurt even more.  Nice.

I also worked my core and I did my  lower back and abs.  On my ab workout, I decided to push it but a side effect is that my abs would cramp up, which is exactly what it did.   I had actually finished my crunches, and it was when I went to pick up my water  bottle that my upper right abdominal locked up.  It took until I was half way home after some continuous massaging that it finally let go. 

This should be an interesting week.  At least the world didn't end....

Yesterday's Ride, Today's Workout and Lunch Rie

While yesterday's ride is considered our toughest route with 2.4K of climbing, I didn't expect it would be as painful as it was.   Not only does everyone seem to be stepping it up more and more, but not having ridden since Sunday didn't help.  Even lately on the toughest rides, my legs didn't complain much and just did what I wanted for the most part.  The biggest concern I have here is that I hope I'm not going backwards.  

Today, I got my arms worked out with a focus on the biceps but I also got some triceps work in.  During my tricep workout, one of the regulars in there asked what was wrong with my arm/elbow.  As expected, he laughed when I told him it was a bowling injury.  I also managed to get my core workout in, but I always have to get out early so I can pick up some croissants and donuts for the wife and kids' breakfast.

Today, I hope to get a lunch ride in albeit it will be a late one.  I have a meeting at 11:15 that shouldn't last too long, so I hope to get out just after it.  If I end up going by myself, I'll probably do a bike trail Shady or Ridgeline loop. 

Shoulder day and Cycling

It was nice to wake up this morning and not see any rain.  Got in the gym and got in a good shoulder workout.  I did the following exercises:  machine side lateral raises, alternating shoulder press machine, front dumbbell raises (alternating) and rear delt machine. 

One observation about my training nowadays, is that I don't ever seem to do isolation unilateral movements anymore...except legs.   I always either do bilateral or alternating.  For some reason, I believe this will help with cycling given that movements are always alternating and continuous.  Whether it's true or not, who knows.  Just another theory I concocted. 

For lunch today, I'm ready to get back on the bike again.   Looking forward to do some hill training in the absence of having ridden a bike the last 3 days.  I'll bring my Cervelo out as I haven't ridden it for a while.  Can't wait.

Leg day and Cardio Lunch

It was a little tough to get up this morning given the sound of rain and how it was cold.  I always think about how it would be nice to skip this morning's workout probably every single day.  Then, it's followed by the thought of how each day I slack, that's one day I have to make up in order to keep making progress.  What finally gets me up is the thought that I may go the opposite way. 

I worked my legs again today and blew up my calves again.  The 50-70 rep sets were painful.  I did a calf extension machine using alternating sets. I then got a sled and did more standing extensions with toe straight, toe in, and toe out.  I did a final toe straight set to blow it out.  I did an alternating standing leg curl hitting reps of 40-50.  Lastly, I did my seated leg extensions followed by leg presses.  I decided to increase the weight on my final leg press to increase the intensity just to change things up.  Overall, the legs got a pretty good workout.

The roads are still a little wet this morning, so I think I'll skip the cycling again one more day and get some more cardio in the gym.  Yesterday's cardio was crazy with the intervals on the elliptical.  I actually got worked since I stuck with the intervals throughout the 60 minutes.  For today, I hope to just be in fat burning mode again and will pick the intensity up for tomorrow's lunch ride.

Tuesday Back and Cardio

For this morning, I managed to get in the gym and get my back workout in.  I did alternating cable pull downs, high angle alternating rows, reverse grip rows, and machine pull overs, all with a rep range of 30-60+.  I also hit my lower back and abs.

I once again managed to get back on track with the explosive movements focusing on speed.  I don't know if I had been doing it as much last week, but today, it was all about how fast I can perform the movement with resistance.  Overall, I had a pretty good workout.

For lunch, it looks like the weather won't allow for any cycling, so elliptical it is.  I will again work on intervals vs. just fat burning, so it should be a good one.

Friday, The Weekend, and Today

With this website down on Friday, I didn't have a chance to post my workout for that day so here goes:  I worked my arms in the morning and focused on my triceps since I skipped it the previous week.  For both triceps and biceps, I did about 5-6 exercises plus I got my lower back and abs in.  For lunch, I did some intervals on the elliptical.  It was tough given I was trying to max my output for every 2 minutes and then rest for 2 minutes where after 20 minutes of this, I was worked.  However, I still finished out the rest of the 60 minutes but I couldn't maximize my intensity as much.

For Saturday, it was just a rest day.  I did load up on calories more given I was expecting to do a long ride on Sunday.  However, the starchy carbs were limited mostly through the day time where I only had fibrous carbs in the evening.

Sunday's ride was ridiculous and in the rain where it was very hard on the body.  Not only was the pace fast, which I didn't mind, but the cold wet weather made it increasingly painful...especially after having to stop for a couple flats.   The guys we rode with were pretty fast, and to me it was just about the climb up past Cooks.  I was a little disappointed about falling off on the 2nd crest before the downhill.  I wondered if I could have set up the hill a little different.  I think if I could do it again, I'd dictate my own rhythm rather than following those ahead of me.  The big bummer was I don't have any stats to review given the problem with my Garmin.

For today's chest workout, I got my 5 exercises in:  flat bench, low angled cable cross over, high angle cable cross over, machine incline press and machine decline press.  I worked my ass off since my focus was on my performance yesterday, so I got a pretty good workout.

At lunch, I hope to do some cardio on the elliptical again, but I think I'll limit the intensity and just work on burning fat. 

Leg Thrased, Shoulder day and more Cycling

Last night, my legs felt thrashed where I had to resort to some ibuprofen; something I don't do that often.  I actually felt pretty beat down after yesterday's workout and ride.  This morning, I feel mostly recovered with just a little sense of fatigue with my quads and glutes.  Calves feel okay.

Got my shoulder workout done this morning.  My left elbow is starting to feel better, but I can still feel it where I kept the weights light but the reps high.  I managed to get 4 exercises in with 2 laterals (front and side), 1 press, and 1 rear delt machine.  I haven't been training my traps, and although I think I should, I don't want them to grow at all.  This is probably also one of the reasons I talk myself out of a 2nd pressing movement.

For today's ride, it will be a little hilly but nothing crazy.  Relative to Baldy, nothing is crazy.  I'll push and keep beating up the legs during this makeshift hell week for them.  I'm hoping they'll be able to adapt to the stress and further my conditioning in preparation for Bear.

Legs again...finally and more cycling

After a 2-3 week hiatus from weight training for the legs, I finally got to work them again this morning and boy did they get worked.  In a way, I was trying to get even with my calf that failed me on Saturday, but I'm sure it'll get the last laugh...especially if the ride at lunch is intense.

My calves did get worked with some really high rep sets through 2 different exercises.  I also tried to blow up my quads through extensions and leg presses where in the end, the veins popping out over them looked like a road map.  Again, I expect these muscles to get even on today's ride.  I also managed to work my hamstrings for a couple high rep sets, but that was abou all I had in me after my calves and quads workout. 

I'm hoping to get a good ride in at lunch today, and hopefully, it'll be a good spin.   Hopefully.

Back Day and Lunch Ride

Another back day out of the way with 4 exercises completed.  It seems more and more, I'm doing less exercises based on the number of reps I do in each set.  I still "worry" about pushing the intensity boundary too much where growth is promoted since I don't want to gain weight (get bigger).  The goal again for me is to continue to improve my overall conditioning so as to help my cycling.  As I blogged back in January, cycling is the focus this year and I still believe I can improve.  Otherwise, why bother?

Today, I was thinking of a flatter route, but that may change depending on what the majority wants to do.  I'm just anxious to get back on the bike.  I know we need to keep training on the hills, so I'm open to that as well.  Legs feel good, so I'm excited.

Saturday's Ride, Today's Chest and Cardio

For my Saturday ride, I wanted to track what I did nutrition-wise for reference on future rides.  I almost managed to complete the ride free of cramping or bonking...almost.  I ended up having 4 bottles of Ultima, a half a bottle of water (for the last part downhill), 2 packages of shot bloks, 6 honey gels, 4 waffles, and 2 packages of fig newtons.  Mentally,  I neglected to stay on top of my nutrition during the last climb, and paid for it with a major calf cramp, which hurt all the way through yesterday.  My quads also threatened to cramp when I stood, and although the shot bloks let me continue pedaling, it did not restore the confidence I had earlier.  Lesson learned.

Today, I was back in the gym working the pecs.  Yesterday, I got a lot of rest (thanks to the wife), so I felt pretty recovered from Saturday.  I managed to get 47 reps out of 155 lbs on the bench today after my warm-up, so either I actually gained weight from the weekend, or I'm a little stronger from the rest.  I got my 6 exercises in plus my 2 core.  

I also will be doing cardio at lunch time today, and hope to do some intervals on the elliptical.  I'll probably pull back just a little to make sure I'm fully recovered and begin the training for the next ride...Big Bear!

Yesterday's Ride, the BMC, and Today's training

In yesterday's ride, it was very mellow since Vince was pulling back a lot to save up for this weekend.  I was also trying to save some, but I did want to burn enough calories for the ride.  I ended up doing 23 miles with Jaffe and Shawn (who met atop NPC), but the pace was a tame 17 mph average.  One thing I did get to try out of the ride was to see how long I could off seat pedal up NPC.  With a pace that Jaffe can keep up with, I did manage to do the whole hill standing up without dropping down to the small chainring.  I did have to switch from the drops to the hoods a couple times just to give my triceps a break, but it was cool to have been able to do so. 

I did take my BMC yesterday with the lowered bars (1 spacer) and originally, it felt a little weird.  I don't want to say uncomfortable, but I did feel more stretched out on the hood.  When I dropped the bar on my R3, it felt natural right away for contrast.  By the middle of the ride though, it not only felt better but I began to think the bar still felt a little high.  I'll have to ride it more and see.

I got in the gym this morning and worked only my biceps.  Since I realized how taxing standing on the drops was on my triceps, I didn't want to tax my triceps at all today to save up for Saturday.  I also toned down my bicep training since last week, my arms were still not fully recovered when I did the Alpine Challenge.  It didn't end up being a factor, but I want to be 100% for the big ride.

For lunch, I'm contemplating doing a light cardio (very light) mostly to fight off anxiety as well as prevent any weight gain.  I may start to carb up a little tonight on through tomorrow, but I won't do it if I don't do cardio.  Decision, decisions.

Skipped Legs Again, Shoulders and More Cycling

Looking for legs to be 100% this weekend, so skipping the leg workout once again (two weeks in a row already).   I can't wait to resume again next week...if I can walk after Saturday.

I worked my shoulders today and did side and front dumbell raises, rear shoulders (machine), and bilateral shoulder press machine.  Still working with the high reps and today, I limited any progressive resistance and used mostly the same weight set after set.  I didn't kill it, but that's expected this week. 

For lunch, I'm bringing in my BMC and hoping to try out the new bar position (dropped one spacer).  I am planning on taking it easy unlike yesterday when it was about trying out the gears.  1 minute efforts should be okay if called for though. 

Saturday Ride, Today's Chest Day and Lunch Ride or Cardio

For my Saturday ride, it seemed that what I ate on Friday helped carry me through the ride with minimal nourishment needed.  I indulged in some Indian food, shared a Mochilato with the wife, and then had chicken and a sweet potato for dinner.  Of course, there was also the mandatory fig newtons.  As a result, I only took 3 gels during the ride, with the last one more precautionary than necessary.  I also only had 1 package of shot bloks.  For my electrolyte drinks, it appears I only had just over 2 bottles as the 3rd bottle I prepared was still almost full when I got back.  I may have to do something similar for this weekend's ride.

After resting yesterday, I felt good this morning and got in the gym and worked my chest.  5 exercises (bench, incline press, decline press, cable crossovers, and low cable crossovers).  I also got my 2 core workouts done.  My left elbow is still in a wrap today, but it's feeling slightly better.  

During today's lunch, I'm contemplating riding my bike or doing some elliptical work.  I know I want to taper a little but maybe it's too early.   I'll decide last minute.